John Ball (1620-1675)
}} Biography Immigration to America John Ball was born circa 1620 at England, possible the Wiltshire area. He immigrated to America about 1650 with his father John Ball (1590-1665). The first evidence of them in America is when John Ball is admitted a freeman on 22 May 1650, but we can't verify if this refers to the father or the son. I assume it is the son, since the father appeared to have been an early settler of Concord, MA. Watertown Founders Monument He is listed on Watertown Founders Monument, commemorating the first settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts. The town was first known as Saltonstall Plantation, one of the earliest of the Massachusetts Bay Colony settlements. Founded in early 1630 by a group of settlers led by Richard Saltonstall and George Phillips, it was officially incorporated that same year. The alternate spelling "Waterton" is seen in some early documents. 1676 Lancaster Indian Attack It appears that John was one of the first three settlers of Lancaster, MA as early as 1653. This would explain why so little is found of him in the Watertown records. John Ball sold his farm in Watertown 21 October 1665. Lancaster was originally called Nashaway, when is was purchased from Sholan, sachem of the Nashaways by Thomas King and others and comprised a tract eight miles wide by ten miles long. John Ball, Richard Linton, and Lawrence waters were sent to make preparations for the rest of the company. In the year 1644, there were but two dwellings in the place, occupied by Ball, Linton and Waters. John , his second wife, and son Joseph (age 6) were slain in the attack upon the town (Lancaster) by Indians and two other children were taken into captivity (Esther, Abigail). The battle occurred on 20 Feb 1676 as part of King Philip's War. Marriage and Family 1st Marriage: Elizabeth Pierce He married first Elizabeth Pierce (1624-1655), daughter of John Pierce and Elizabeth (????).1 # John Ball (1644-1722) # Mary Ball (1651-1692) - after enduring a troubled childhood, and becoming a ward of the state, she finally found stability in the home of a Scottish immigrant William Munroe (1625-1718) and had 10 children by him, a notable posterity. # Sarah Ball (1654-) # Esther Ball (1655-) 2nd Marriage: Elizabeth Fox John Ball married second Elizabeth Fox (1625-1676), daughter of Thomas Fox, on 3 October 1665 at Watertown, Middlesex Co., MA; "3 of the 8 mo." About the year 1655-6, his wife became violently insane, which fact doubtless accounts for the apprenticing of the children. Research Notes * New England Families: Genealogical Memorials... by William R Cutter, Vol I, pg 449. (Free on Google Books.) * John Ball is the patriarch of one of two Ball Families that immigrated to Massachusetts in the early 1600's. The other unrelated immigrant is Nathaniel Ball (1625-1705). * Frank D. Warren and Mrs. George H. Ball, compilers, The Descendants of John Ball of Watertown, Massachusetts 1630-1635 (Boston, MA: Planographed by Spaulding Moss Co., 1932). * Historical Society of Watertown, compiler, Watertown RecordsComprising the First and Second Books of Town Proceedings with the Lands Grants and Possessions also the Proprietors' Book and the First Book and Supplement of Births Deaths and Marriages (Watertown, MA: Press of Fred G. Barker, 1894-1906 (4 volumes)), p. 27. * Henry S. Nourse, compiler, The Birth, Marriage and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts 1643-1850 (Lancaster, MA: Town of Lancaster, 1890), p. 16. * Letter from Diane Rapaport (Lexington MA) to David G. Ball (North Vancouver BC Canada), 28 August 2006; Personal Library of David G. Ball (North Vancouver, BC, Canada), Republication with permission of the author. DNA Research Project Comment by DGB: According to yDNA testing of descendants of this John Ball of Watertown and Nathaniel Ball of Concord, they were not related. They had been recorded as brothers in genealogies as early as Farmer's work in 1829. End of comment. Famous Descendants * John Ball List of Famous Descendants References * New England Families: Genealogical Memorials... by William R Cutter, Vol I, pg 449. (Free on Google Books.) * New England Ball Project - Genealogy Website for the Ball Family in New England. * John Ball - disambuguation * Ball in Massachusetts - Family Tree Category:Migrants from England to Massachusetts Category:King Philip's War